Global AIDS

Document Source Date NEW PLEDGE ON UNIVERSAL AIDS TREATMENT United Nations 09/06/07 Global Strategies for HIV Prevention Comments compiled on a recent media article on the HIVNET 012 Uganda study.   15/12/04 A Major Breakthrough for children living with HIV UNICEF hails cheap, common antibiotic that greatly reduces death rates among children with HIV. AFP 19/11/04 Groundbreaking Thai/Australian Partnership Initiative Clinical Trials Announced Into Efficacy of Limes (or lemons) as Nature’s Microbicide to Combat HIV/AIDS!   --/05/04 Agreement on Eve of XV International AIDS Conference in Bangkok Mechai Viravaidya Prof. Roger V.Short A.M. 11/07/04 Thailand government is to fund clinical trials to evaluate the efficacy of lime juice - first as a contraceptive and then as nature's own microbicide to combat HIV/AIDS. The so-called Manoi (Lime) Trial was given the go-ahead nod at a top level meeting at the Thai Ministry of Health in Bangkok on May 4, 2004.   28/05/04 Global Coalition on Women and AIDS An excellent new UNAIDS resource established AFP --/02/04 A special cause for Rotary International? A dramatically moving invitation is being offered to Rotary International to take up the battle against global HIV/AIDS as its next special cause following on its magnificent efforts to beat world polio. The Australian AIDS Fund Incorporated and AIDS Information Services fully endorses the invitation.   --/01/04 Youthnet A global program aimed at improving the reproductive health and the prevention of HIV/AIDS among young people 10 to 24 years old. It's employed the energy, insight, and experience of parents, schoolteachers, employers, policymakers, the media, health professionals, non-government agencies, religious and community leaders, and other youth networks. It's in English, Spanish, French, Russian, and Arabic.     Circumcision, condoms and lemon juice “In Press, Reproduction, Fertility and Development, 2004” The HIV/AIDS Pandemic: New Ways of Preventing Infection in Men - Professor R. V. Short FAA, FRS   --/02/04 India's Bishops seek mandatory HIV tests before marriage India's Roman Catholic bishops have asked the federal government to make HIV and AIDS tests compulsory before granting marriage licenses to help prevent the spread of the deadly disease. Associated Press via Aegis --/01/04 The Day in the Life of Africa Produced by Lee Liberman of Melbourne, The Day in the Life of Africa is an extraordinary photographic project reflecting the work of almost 100 of the world's top photojournalists to document the entire continent of Africa in just 24 hours - a tapestry of stunning beauty. When the photographs were shot in February, 2002, it was generally believed that more than 15 million Africans had already died in the AIDS panemic while a further 25 million others were infected. Publishing profits from this project are directed to the Day in the Life of Africa AIDS Education Fund created for the express purpose of channelling money into effective on-the-ground AIDS-education programs on the African continent. The Australian AIDS Fund Incorporated and Melbourne's AIDS Information Services supports and applauds this initiative.   South Africa Changes Course With Aggressive AIDS Plan - MARK SCHOOFS, Staff Reporter In a dramatic shift in its AIDS policy, the South African government said it would undertake the world's largest AIDS treatment program by providing the expensive and complex AIDS drug regimens free of charge in the public sector. Wall Street Journal 19/11/03 AIDS vaccine disappointment The first mass trial of an anti-HIV vaccine has essentially failed despite the involvement of over 5,000 volunteers in North Amrica, Puerto Rico and the Netherlands over a 3 year period.   --/03/03 Bush's $US15 Billion Pledge U.N. Secretary General, Kofi Annan, has hailed President Bush's promise to provide $US 15 billion in funding to help in the global battle against HIV/AIDS.   --/02/03 Local & International Warnings - Hep C infections in Australia jump - urgent funding needed The Australian Hepatitis Council (Oct 6) has accused State and Federal governments of ignoring the growing health problems associated with Hepatitis C.   --/12/02 Annual Surveillance Report 2002 HIV/AIDS, viral hepatitis and sexually transmissible infections in Australia. National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical research --/09/02 Opinion Pieces - World AIDS Day HIV/AIDS - and Hepatitis C, in Australia With World AIDS Day (Dec 1) here again and, despite being 20 years into the global HIV/AIDS pandemic, Australia still remains very much the odd man out in terms of its infection rates compared with the rest of the world.   01/12/01 Red Cross Appeal The Australian Red Cross has launched a special appeal to combat the growing spread of HIV/AIDS on the Australian doorstep, in Asia.   --/10/01

Global HIV infecting youth - 1 every 14 seconds October, 2003 - U.N. State of World Population Report To read, Click Here   For the latest global figures for HIV/AIDS we refer to www.avert.org/worldstats.htm

AIDS Vaccine Focus Urged - Washington Post - June 27, 2003
(By Mark Kaufman)

Declaring that the two-decade search for a vaccine against HIV-AIDS has fallen disturbingly short of its goals, the world's leading researchers in the field called yesterday for an international effort on the level of the Human Genome Project to speed a breakthrough.

Writing in the journal Science, two dozen HIV-AIDS leaders urged creation of a Global Vaccine Enterprise that would establish six to 10 new research centres around the world focused exclusively on an AIDS vaccine, funded by new public and private money.

"Almost everyone involved in HIV vaccine development agrees that there is an urgent need to create and evaluate systematically more candidate vaccines," wrote the AIDS elite, including top U.S. and international public health officials, two Nobel Prize winners, corporate and foundation public health official, two Nobel Prize winners, corporate and foundation researchers, and activists representing AIDS sufferers. "Despite the wide variety of conceptual approaches to HIV vaccine design, the pace of development of new HIV vaccine candidates needs to be accelerated."

One of the paper's authors, Seth Berkley, president of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, was more direct in an interview.

"It's more than 20 years since AIDS was diagnosed, and the amount of money spent for a vaccine has been a global disgrace," he said. "yes, the science is very difficult. But unless the world really pushes for an AIDS vaccine, we'll never know what is possible and what is not."

According to co-author Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, none of the 60 million people who have contracted the virus has recovered on his own, leading scientists to conclude that the body cannot produce effective antibodies against it. Virtually all vaccines work by introducing elements of a microbe or toxin into the body to cause it to produce antibodies that protect against later infection.

According to the paper, about 45 million people will be infected with the virus by 2010, with nearly 70 million deaths by 2020. Most of the victims now are in poorer countries in Africa and Asia.

Berkley said that only 2 percent of global funds spent on HIV-AIDS goes to developing a vaccine, which is the only way the epidemic can be stopped. "Lets' face it: Once the demand for treatment grew and billions began flowing into that, the AIDS vaccine has fallen way down the agenda," he said.

AIDS Epidemic Update 2002

The World Health Organisation, in collaboration with UNAIDS has released the following data based on the most recent available data on the spread of HIV in countries around the world.

• There are 42 million people living with HIV/AIDS world-wide.
• 38.6 million of these are adults.
• 19.2 million are women and 3.2 million are children under the age of 15.

Five million new infections with HIV occurred in 2002 of which 4.2 million were adults and 2 million women. A total of 3.1 million people died of HIV/AIDS related causes in 2002.

Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest number of HIV positive individuals (29.4 million people living with HIV/AIDS) followed by South and South-East Asia (6 million).

In North America there are 980,000 people living with HIV/AIDS, 570,000 in Western Europe and 1.2 million in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The number of HIV positive individuals in Australia and New Zealand has remained constant since 2001 (15,000 people).

In Latin America and the Caribbean the figure is 1.2 million and 440,000 respectively. East Asia and the Pacific have 1.2 million people living with HIV/AIDS.

North Africa and the Middle East have 550,000 people living with HIV/AIDS.

Source WHO & UNAIDS

Click here for global AIDS history.

The following information from the www.avert.org website

These figures are estimates at the end of 2002, published by UNAIDS in the 'AIDS Epidemic Update', December 2002 and UNAIDS ' Report on the global HIV/AIDS Epidemic', July 2002.

These estimates include all people with HIV infection, whether or not they have developed symptoms of AIDS, alive at the end of 2002.

For each of these countries, the 1999 prevalence rate published by UNAIDS was applied to the country's 2001 adult population to produce estimates given in the table. The estimates are given in rounded numbers. However, unrounded numbers were used in the calculation of rates and regional totals, so there may be minor discrepancies between the regional/global totals and the sum of country figures.

Adults in this report are defined as men and women aged 15-49. This age range captures those in their most sexually active years. While the risk of HIV infection continues beyond the age of 50, the fast majority of people with substantial risk behaviour are likely to have become infected by this age. Since population structures differ greatly from one country to another, especially for children and the upper adult ages, the restriction of 'adults' to 15-49 has the advantage of making different populations more comparable.

The AIDS Virus Around the World

Source: World Health Organisation, December 1999

Facts and Figures

The estimated number of new HIV infections in children and young people.

• In 1998, more than 3 million children and young people became infected with HIV.
• Around 590,000 children under 15 and more than 2.5 million 15-24 year olds.
• More than 8,500 children and young people became infected with HIV per day, six every minute.

For further information, refer to the links page.